You've heard my latest radio spots and asked me to share them online. They are now posted, so please go to my website to watch the videos and keep the feedback coming! I am grateful for all your positive comments. It is humbling to hear your well wishes and support.

From the many conversations we've had and through the communications I've sent out over the years, you know that I've dedicated my legislative work and professional career to reforming our healthcare system.

I've focused this message on healthcare reform because we have so much work ahead of us to fix this system.

As a state senator, I authored Pennsylvania's Patients' Bill of Rights - legislation empowering you to develop and review your treatment plan in the doctor's office, and not the insurance office, as well as many other reforms that ended the managed care stranglehold on the healthcare system.

What was most disappointing for me during the whole healthcare debate this year in Washington was how little we focused on real reforms. In fact, we didn't focus on reforms and what we were promised is not what we got. The legislation didn't fix or reform the broken system; it merely expanded and financed it through higher (as well as hidden) taxes.

Healthcare reform shouldn't cost you more, limit your choices, or take away your rights and control of your care.

Community health centers (CHC) offer quality healthcare services to uninsured and underinsured families, but a shortage of doctors has made it difficult for CHCs to meet their full potential. Nearly seventy percent of patients treated at CHCs are members of the working poor and have family incomes at or below the poverty level, and more than thirty percent of patients are uninsured. But many are still unable to access care because of major shortages of doctors at CHCs. In some cases the shortage is as high as twenty percent. Many doctors want to volunteer and serve these families in a CHC setting, but existing law makes it nearly impossible for them to give their time. My legislation ends the regulatory obstacles that prevent doctors from volunteering at CHCs, ensuring families who otherwise would not have regular access to healthcare have a family doctor and a real healthcare home.

The efforts and ideas I offer on healthcare reform stand in stark contrast to that of my opponent, who thinks the new healthcare legislation didn't go far enough.

For starters, he advocates opening up Medicare, a program meant to serve seniors, universally to everybody regardless of age or medical condition. This kind of Medicare-For-All proposal was even considered too radical by the Majority in Congress that pushed through the healthcare bill we have now, and was abandoned at the onset of the debate.

That's because a single-payer system run through Medicare isn't just the wrong diagnosis for what's ailing our nation's $2.5 trillion health system; it's also the wrong prescription for a program designed specifically to help seniors. And from our numerous discussions and meetings, I know that his proposal for Medicare doesn't represent the values shared by you, me, and Southwestern Pennsylvanians.

Ultimately, we still have a lot of work to do. And you can be sure that I'll continue to advance reforms that expand access to quality care without bankrupting our system.

Posted by Tim Murphy
October 23, 2010 3:00 pm
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